Light a Candle

Holodomor Awareness Week November 22-28

This weekend, I’m going to be remembering. Remembering millions who died of starvation.
I was raised in the Ukrainian-Canadian Community, and I’ve always known of the Ukrainian genocide by famine of 1932-33, but as I grew older, I was saddened to see how few people also knew of it. It is, as the Calgary Herald puts it, “a nearly forgotten genocide.”

In the rise of the Soviet Union, Stalin instigated this genocide to destroy the spirit of the Ukrainian nation. He imposed grain quotas on the collective farms higher than what the farms were capable of producing. The collection was enforced with death penalties: peasants were shot for trying to eat raw wheat stalks off of the ground. Named for “holod” (hunger) and “mor” (death, plague, suffering), the Holodomor was a tragedy that reduced Ukraine’s population by around 25%, killing 10 million people, if not more.

At the height of the Holodomor Ukrainian, villagers were dying at the rate of 25,000 per day or 1,000 per hour or 17 per minute. -Holodfacts

How can you support awareness for this “nearly forgotten genocide”? This weekend is the annual time of remembrance.
You can partake in events being hosted here in Calgary:

November 21 – 28
33 black flags (for the year 1933) and large Holodomor banner is on display outside of
the CYM Ukrainian Youth Centre – Edmonton Tr and 9 Ave NE.

November 23 – 26 (during business hours)
Holodomor Exhibit at the Calgary City Hall Atrium

November 25 UCPBA Dinner Meeting
Danish Canadian Club (727 11 Ave SW)
Showing of Stone Mill with English subtitles
Hosted by the Ukrainian Canadian Proffessional and Business Association

November 26 at 7 p.m.
Candlelight Vigil at the Holodomor Memorial site (Pictured above)
Langevin Bridge (across from Starbucks)
Memorial Drive and Edmonton Trail

November 27 at 11 a.m.
Memorial Service and Commemoration of the Holodomor 1932-1933 at St. Vladimir’s Cultural Centre – 404 Meridith Rd NE.
Holodomor Posters from Ukraine Poster Contest

November 27 at 1932h (7:32 p.m.)
Church bell tolling at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian
Catholic Parish
Minute of Silence

Even if you are not at any of the scheduled events, take a moment to honour the lives of the lost and to envision a world of peace where such atrocities will never happen again. On Saturday, November 27 at 19:32 (7:32 p.m.), light a candle in your window to raise awarness for the Holodomor.